Clery Act VAWA Training: Who Must Be Trained and How Often

Someone on your campus asks which staff need Clery training this year, and the honest answer has 2 halves. One group has a training duty with a stated frequency written into the regulation. Everyone else has a duty with no frequency attached at all, which is where most compliance calendars go wrong.

That split comes from section 304 of the law that created the duties. Section 304 of the 2013 Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, known as the Campus SaVE Act, amended section 485(f) of the Higher Education Act. The operative detail then landed in the Department of Education's regulation at 34 CFR 668.46, which is the text a program reviewer works from.

Reading that regulation closely answers the who and the how often in about 10 minutes. That reading also explains why a single campus-wide module each September satisfies one obligation and quietly misses the other. Your calendar needs both answers, and the annual one is the place to start.

The One Group with an Annual Duty

The annual duty belongs to a narrow group, and 668.46(k)(2)(ii) names it precisely. Disciplinary proceedings must be conducted by officials who, at a minimum, receive annual training on the issues related to dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. That same sentence adds training on how to conduct an investigation and hearing process that protects the safety of victims and promotes accountability.

Two phrases in that wording do real work on a compliance calendar. The first, "at a minimum", sets a floor, so an institution may train more often and never less. The second, "annual", is the only frequency the whole section states, which makes this the one group a reviewer can test against a date.

Who Counts as an Official

That group is where institutions most often under-count. The same group includes anyone who conducts any part of a proceeding arising from an allegation in those 4 categories. A hearing panel member, an investigator and an appeals officer are each conducting part of it, so each of them owes it by name.

Because the duty attaches to the person, your record has to work at the level of the person. A departmental attestation that the conduct office completed training cannot show which panel member was current on the day one particular hearing ran. That is the question a program review asks, and it is answered by a dated record per individual.

What 668.46(j) Asks for, and What It Leaves Open

That dated record covers one group, and the larger obligation in 668.46 reaches almost everybody with no interval attached. Paragraph (j)(1)(i) covers primary prevention and awareness programs for all incoming students and new employees. Ongoing prevention and awareness campaigns for the students and employees already there sit in (j)(1)(ii).

Both paragraphs describe content in some detail and frequency not at all. Each program has to state that the institution prohibits the 4 offenses, define them and consent in the applicable jurisdiction, describe bystander intervention options and give risk reduction information. Nothing in either paragraph says how often any of it recurs.

How That Changes a Calendar

One structural point about that paragraph explains the gap. Paragraph (j) is written as a requirement about what the annual security report must describe, so the duty to run the programs follows from the duty to describe them. A reviewer therefore compares the description in your report against what your campus delivered.

Planning settles into 4 steps on a campus of any size:

• Identify every person who conducts any part of a disciplinary proceeding.
• Give each of them a dated training record covering the 4 offense categories.
• Deliver prevention programming to incoming students and new employees on arrival.
• Describe both programs in the annual security report in the terms (j)(1)(i) uses.

What the 2 Duties Look Like Side by Side

Both programs fit on one page, and the contrast between them is the useful part. Only 1 of the 2 columns below can be audited against a date. The other cannot be audited that way at all, which is the whole of the planning problem and the reason most calendars quietly treat the 2 duties as one.

Reading that table down the middle column shows why the annual cycle is the easier half to run. It names its people, it names its interval, and it ends in a record carrying a date. The right-hand column reaches far more people and gives you almost nothing to measure against, which is why it tends to be the half nobody examines.

That asymmetry is worth planning around. Most institutions already deliver orientation programming to every arrival, so the content obligation under (j) is usually met in substance. What goes missing is the description in the security report, which is the artifact a reviewer reads before asking whether the Act reaches you at all.

Which Institutions Have to Answer the Question

The Act reaches nearly every institution that takes federal student aid. The Congressional Research Service counted 5,918 domestic institutions holding Title IV written agreements with the Department of Education for academic year 2022-23, which is the population the Clery Act reaches. Participation in those aid programs is what makes the Clery framework apply, so the question is rarely whether you are covered.

Those 5,918 institutions owe the same duty under very different conditions. A small private college with 1 conduct officer owes what a university system with a standing hearing panel owes. Scale changes how you deliver the training and nothing about who owes it, so delivery is the remaining problem.

What KC Library Gives a Campus Compliance Team

Delivery is usually the part a small conduct office struggles with. Building a current module on dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking is real work, and rebuilding it every year is harder than building it once. A 2-person office rarely has that year in hand.

KC Library holds more than 50,000 training videos across 5 categories and adds new ones every week, which keeps a compliance course current as definitions change. Pairing it with KC LMS gives you the assignment and the dated completion record in one place. An investigator joining in March is enrolled from their HR attributes without anybody rebuilding a list.

For a higher education institution, the work is to separate the 2 duties and then stop confusing them. Put the officials who conduct proceedings on a dated annual cycle, run prevention programming for every arrival, and describe both programs in the security report your reviewer reads first. Clery Act VAWA training stops being a calendar problem once those 2 groups are named.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Which staff must complete annual training under the Clery Act?

Officials who conduct any part of an institutional disciplinary proceeding arising from an allegation of dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. That reaches hearing panel members, investigators and appeals officers, because each conducts part of the proceeding. 34 CFR 668.46(k)(2)(ii) sets the duty at a minimum of once a year.

2. Does 668.46(j) require annual training for all new employees?

No. Paragraph (j)(1)(i) requires primary prevention and awareness programs for all incoming students and new employees, and paragraph (j)(1)(ii) requires ongoing campaigns for those already there. Neither paragraph states a frequency, so the annual word in the regulation belongs only to the officials in (k)(2)(ii).

3. What must the training content cover?

The 4 named offenses and the process around them. Programs under (j) must state that the institution prohibits dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, define those terms and consent in the applicable jurisdiction, describe bystander intervention options and give risk reduction information. Training under (k)(2)(ii) adds how to conduct an investigation and hearing that protects victim safety and promotes accountability.

4. Is a departmental training record enough?

Not for the annual duty. It attaches to each official by name, so a program review asks which panel member was current on the date a particular hearing ran. A dated record per individual answers that, and an attestation covering an office does not.

5. Which institutions are covered?

Those participating in federal Title IV student aid programs. The Congressional Research Service counted 5,918 domestic institutions holding Title IV written agreements with the Department of Education for academic year 2022-23. A small college with 1 conduct officer carries the same annual duty as a large university system.

References

1. 34 CFR 668.46, Institutional security policies and crime statistics.
2. 34 CFR 668.46, Legal Information Institute.
3. Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, Public Law 113-4.
4. Congress.gov. S.47, Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013.
5. Congressional Research Service. Eligibility for Participation in Title IV Student Financial Aid Programs, R43159.